2. CARE in West Africa
Severe and persistent drought affected large areas of West Africa during the 1970s and 1980s. The significant social, economic and environmental effects of the drought focused the attention of local populations, governments,donors and development agencies within the region on the closely related issues of climatic instability, environmental degradation, increasing popula- tion and declining agricultural productivity. While active in the region since the early 1960s (Liberia and Sierra Leone since 1961, Nigeria since 1968), CARE's presence in West Africa increased significantly in response to the drought. For example, activities in Niger, Chad and Mali, presently three of the largest country programs in the region, were initiated during the critical period between 1973 and 1975 (Table 1). Since the mid-1970s funding for CARE's agriculture and natural resource (ANR) projects in Niger, Mali, Chad, Sierra Leone, Togo and Cameroon has increased to over USS 7 million/year (Fig. 1). A number of the current agriculture and natural resource projects in the more arid areas of the region evolved from emergency food distribution activities. This transition from drought relief to development activities took place over a number of years, as can be seen from the fact that the major growth in ANR project funding did not take place until after 1985.